Work for the State of Wisconsin. Sucks to be us, but I think most people know that by now.

Then 3 years before I started drawing, because of no COLA, "because there was no inflation. Yeah, right.

I work for the State of Washington. 3% hit.

But I'm still doing about as well as I was before the 2004 layoff.

and I've been on one sort of MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) since then.
Wait until you see Jamaica's new austerity package!
Our unions have just abandoned demands for a wage increase for 2010-2012 and we've just received the first of five tranches of back pay from the 2007-2009 period. They'll finish giving us that in May 2014 by which time it won't be worth shit.

It's unbelievable what the middle class and working class are facing while the rich get all the benefits and tax breaks.

And offered in return this new thing called a 401K.

took about 6 months to get a raise back above that level... other then that I have never seen a reduction in income...

First contract after that fucking sob Reagan was elected.
Fuck him and all the rest of the gop.

But I have not had a significant increase in four years and my insurance and such gets more expensive every year.

but I was overeducated when I entered the workforce. Had I been male and born a decade earlier that training would have been sought after. But even the male graduates in the top of my class had difficulty finding related employment.

Back in the early 80's when I was in school I would have been better advised to go to tech or trade school as opposed to getting professional training. The jobs I was seeking were largely filled by young professionals who are only now leaving those positions. Our economy was not creating enough of those professional jobs to absorb and employ people like me that were graduating and wanting to work in the field. And some of the jobs that were being created were being offshored.

Instead of taking a cut in pay and benefits I have had repeated stretches of unemployment - and felt the need to continually seek additional training. Granted, I had professional credentials and could have been working if had a small fortune to finance my own little self-employed endeavor. But I didn't. I had student loans and had spent a bundle getting that education.

no pay cuts. Usually what happens is I take a job at a lower wage than what I was making before I was laid off and eventually claw my way back to my prior wage level.

I'm currently unemployed and have been so for > 18 months. This particular stretch has me a bit worried, as I'm now over 50 and have come face to face with age discrimination more than once.

I am fortunate in that I live relatively frugally and put away funds for the proverbial 'rainy day.' But they never seem enough and I'm always in something of a hole when I resume working. This time around, I may even have to hit my retirement accounts to stay liquid. I hope not, but unemployment in California is well over 10% and shows no signs of any sudden turn-around.

I'm a single 50ish female without children. I'm also an only surviving child responsible to help care for aging parents who live in another state. I have both vision and hearing impairments. While they do not require special accomodations by an employer they do place some limitations on what I am capable of doing. I'm well educated and have a responsible work history. But some of my previous employers no longer exist and confirmation of that experience is difficult.

I've been unemployed for years now. Not by choice - though I have tried to maintain my skills, acquire new ones and contribute to my community during this time. When asked in an interview I will not say that I am uemployed - I will say that I work but not in the traditional sense of being employed. Then I can go on to state what I have been doing while not otherwise being employed: acquired new skills working with stained glass, warm glass, fine jewelry (including a year as a full time student in tech school), three years spent as an officer in a local club, active membership in some other local clubs, small business consulting and tax preparation work to generate some $$$ income, taking some classes to maintain and upgrade my computer skills, caring for aging family members, serving as a trustee (on an account created for minor children at the death of their father), some travel, training a dog to do competitive obedience and therapy work and visiting various facilities on a regular basis doing such work.

I also have lived frugally and put away funds. Most of my previous employers did not have 401k or other retirement plans available. So I feel like I began depleting my retirement funds as soon as my unemployment ran out.

I live in an employment at will state and suspect that I will never again have traditional employment. I have been working on various ideas to try to generate some $$$ - without requiring a signficant investment of $$$ or being particularly high risk. My most valuable skills reside between my two ears and require little more than a computer and software to utilize - and I can also generate some $$$ with my newly acquired creative skills.

What concerns me most at this point is healthcare - or more precisely my lack of meaningful and affordable access to healthcare. I haven't had an eye exam in years and need new glasses. I haven't seen a dentist in years and while, thankfully, I don't have dental pain I am aware that I probably need considerable dental work to prolong the life of my teeth. I haven't seen a doctor in nearly 15 years. Sadly, I do not expect Obamacare to do much to improve my circumstances with respect to meaningful and affordable access to healthcare. Those of us that are 50+ are still going to be paying steep premiums for health insurance - and those subsidies are going to be tied to income without considering premium costs. And those of us with individual policies will still find it difficult to obtain coverage for dental and optical services that affords benefits that warrant the steep premiums.

Good luck to you.

just had unemployment cut off (due to California no longer qualifying for the FED-ED extension) and am now having to use my savings\retirement. I am constantly looking for ways to bring cash in that do not require me to be under 30 and willing to work for $10/hour. My wife and I opened a virtual online art gallery that, thus far, has not brough in much but hasn't cost much to establish and run either. I've tried doing some socially-responsible investing, but the markets have been decidedly uncooperative. So right now, my future looks bleak. I have been reading a lot of job-hunting guides and some of them have some great ideas. But this economy is in far worse shape than most of the MSM would have us believe and these 'great ideas' will lead to frustration and worse, based on my instincts.

Here's one piece of advice i will willingly dispense: if you have a job you despise, don't take on a mortgage. I did and now feel like I have an albatross tied around my neck. Oh well, live and learn, as they say.

As for the medical, I've sort of resigned myself to a life of Dickensian penury if the axe falls on my health. I've been blessed so far with fairly good health, but I'm not relying on Obama and the Dems to provide healthcare for me and my wife.

Good luck to you too.

to health insurance. They also announced changes to the pension in 1999 that resulted in my losing something like $600 (20%) a month.

But not being in a union wasn't a choice, just the nature of my work. I always demanded what I felt I was worth and the movement was always upward, with the exception of a salary cut by changing jobs but that was a net gain because I no longer paid state income tax and was much closer to home.

Nixon's wage freeze delayed a promotion in the USAF.

economy dips in the slightest. This current "recession" has been going on for 5 years.

And what are "benefits"??

Ended up destitute and homeless from taking care of sick family, ended up out of date in my computer skills, and now, 14 years later, just worked my way up to 50% (before inflation), with absolute zero bennies and the responsibility of paying self employment tax, of what I was making then.

Cut in half.

The day I retired. But it was worth it.

Two weeks of furloughs in 2009 - which is about a 4 percent cut in pay
One week furloughs in 2010 and 2011
Then laid off almost a year ago exactly - for six months
Lucky to find a good job in December 2011. It pays 41 percent less than what I used to make, but I'm doing something that matters now and I love it.

because I took a big hit to my incentive structure but I did that very willingly.
That was 2004.

In 2008 after a record month, the sales team I was on was hit with a 30% cut.

I left there as to be able to pay attention, the job it's self was already about a 50% cut from the last job.

I was able to get a fair chunk of the last high pay and was only down maybe 30% so a big step up from the original pay of the last job and huge from the cut but nine months later we got a 10% cut and a severe benefits cut. A few hours later they laid a third of the staff off so I was happy to have a job at that point cuts or not but the next day we had another round of layoffs. So, there I got the pay and benefit cut, survived a layoff, and actually got laid off in like 26 hours.

That is my direct cut history but the heaviest hits have come from shut downs and layoffs and having to keep starting over pretty much making the past 10 years a lost decade. I'm still down about 25% from my none too lofty peak and killed two 401k's as well.

nt

I've been working since 1982 and my base pay and benefits have improved or held steady every year. I've had some years that were better than others because of "at risk pay" like bonuses, stock grants, etc, but my basic pay package has never regressed. I've been very fortunate.

I once worked at a company that paid 1.5x overtime. After several years of working 60-70 hour weeks, they cut that back to 1x for overtime and gave us a pay raise to compenstate. Because of the hours I worked, I still came out behind for a year.

see a raise in pay.

Don't know about next year yet...